The Vancouver Canucks (17-11-8) open the 2025 portion of their schedule when they face the Seattle Kraken (17-19-2) at Climate Pledge Arena.
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It’s a rematch of Saturday’s game at Rogers Arena that saw the Kraken roar back from a 4-1 deficit with four unanswered goals in a stunning 5-4 overtime victory.
<h1>What we saw</h1>
After a team day off Wednesday, the Canucks held a full morning skate in the Emerald City.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
As expected, Demko 1st off for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a> at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SeaKraken?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SeaKraken</a> <a href="https://t.co/hIHimjPZ0Q">pic.twitter.com/hIHimjPZ0Q</a>
&mdash; Rob Simpson (@simmerpuck) <a href="https://twitter.com/simmerpuck/status/1874901595915419876?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Thatcher Demko gets the call in net tonight and, with it, a chance at redemption after giving up five goals to the Kraken in his last start. Demko is 2-1-3 in his six starts this season. It looks like the Canucks could make one change on defence tonight, with Guillaume Brisebois drawing in for Erik Brännström. If that&#8217;s the case, it will be the first NHL game for Brisebois since March 31, 2023, against Calgary. He played 17 games for the club in the 2022-23 season, scoring his only NHL goal and adding a couple of assists. The 27-year-old has appeared in 23 games for AHL Abbotsford this season.
Tonight will be the third straight game without captain Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson, who are both sidelined by undisclosed injuries. With Hughes out, Tyler Myers logged a season-high 23:33 in a 3-1 loss in Calgary on Tuesday night. It was the most ice the veteran has logged since March 2023.
With Pettersson on the shelf, the team’s top two centres tonight have both gone ice cold in the goal-scoring department. JT Miller’s goal drought has now reached 10 games, while Pius Suter has gone 11 games without putting a puck in the net. 
The Canucks have just one win in their past six outings (1-2-3) after the setback at the Saddledome on Tuesday. The team is also winless in its last four road outings (0-2-2). Brock Boeser scored for a fourth straight game, matching his career-best goal-scoring streak. He has six goals over that span, including a pair against the Kraken earlier in the week. In fact, the Burnsville, MN native has six of the team’s 13 goals over the past four games. Despite missing seven games with a head injury in mid to late November, Boeser is now up to 14 goals on the season and is on pace for 32 goals on the season.
Road goals have become an issue, with the Canucks managing to score just once in each of their last two losses (in Calgary and before that in Las Vegas). In their last four road games, the team has scored a total of six goals. After opening the season 8-1 on the road, the Canucks are now 10-4-2 as the visitors.
<h1>The opponent</h1>
It’s funny what a week can do. The Kraken limped into Vancouver on Saturday on a five-game losing streak and with just six goals over that span. They scored five against the Canucks and then scored five more in a 5-2 home win over Utah on Monday night. So they are 2-0 since the holiday break and have won back-to-back games for the first time since December 3rd and 5th in Carolina and at the New York Islanders.
Jaden Schwartz is holding the hot hand right now. He scored twice to spur the comeback against the Canucks on Saturday and scored again against Utah. He now has four goals in his last four games.
Jared McCann scored his team-leading 13th of the season against Utah. McCann also leads the Kraken with 28 points.
Matty Beniers has scored in back-to-back games, while newly acquired Kappo Kakko is settling into Seattle with a goal and two assists in his first five games with the Kraken.
The Canucks saw firsthand on Saturday how potent Seattle’s defence can be when Vince Dunn scored twice, including the overtime winner. The Kraken have 23 goals from their defencemen led by Brandon Montour with eight and Dunn with seven. Only Columbus (25) and Edmonton (24) have generated more goals from their bluelines.
Philipp Grubauer is expected to make his third straight start in goal tonight. He’s won both games since Christmas, including the one in Vancouver last weekend.
The Canucks won the first six match-ups in the history of this Pacific Northwest rivalry. However, the Kraken have won five of the last six meetings between these teams. After tonight, the two teams will faceoff two more times this season – in Seattle again on March 1st and in Vancouver on April 2nd.
Tonight’s referees: Peter MacDougall &amp; Dan O’Rourke
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse &amp; Ray Ferraro
Make sure to join the Rink Wide Vancouver postgame live stream immediately following tonight’s game. Rink Wide will provide a full breakdown and comprehensive coverage of the Canucks game. When the final buzzer sounds, be sure to log onto Rink Wide and join the YouTube live chat to discuss the game with other Canucks fans. Subscribe to the Rink Wide YouTube channel and never miss an episode.
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The Vancouver Canucks (17-11-8) open the 2025 portion of their schedule when they face the Seattle Kraken (17-19-2) at Climate Pledge Arena.
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It’s a rematch of Saturday’s game at Rogers Arena that saw the Kraken roar back from a 4-1 deficit with four unanswered goals in a stunning 5-4 overtime victory.
<h1>What we saw</h1>
After a team day off Wednesday, the Canucks held a full morning skate in the Emerald City.

https://twitter.com/simmerpuck/status/1874901595915419876

Thatcher Demko gets the call in net tonight and, with it, a chance at redemption after giving up five goals to the Kraken in his last start. Demko is 2-1-3 in his six starts this season. It looks like the Canucks could make one change on defence tonight, with Guillaume Brisebois drawing in for Erik Brännström. If that's the case, it will be the first NHL game for Brisebois since March 31, 2023, against Calgary. He played 17 games for the club in the 2022-23 season, scoring his only NHL goal and adding a couple of assists. The 27-year-old has appeared in 23 games for AHL Abbotsford this season.

Tonight will be the third straight game without captain Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson, who are both sidelined by undisclosed injuries. With Hughes out, Tyler Myers logged a season-high 23:33 in a 3-1 loss in Calgary on Tuesday night. It was the most ice the veteran has logged since March 2023.

With Pettersson on the shelf, the team’s top two centres tonight have both gone ice cold in the goal-scoring department. JT Miller’s goal drought has now reached 10 games, while Pius Suter has gone 11 games without putting a puck in the net. 

The Canucks have just one win in their past six outings (1-2-3) after the setback at the Saddledome on Tuesday. The team is also winless in its last four road outings (0-2-2). Brock Boeser scored for a fourth straight game, matching his career-best goal-scoring streak. He has six goals over that span, including a pair against the Kraken earlier in the week. In fact, the Burnsville, MN native has six of the team’s 13 goals over the past four games. Despite missing seven games with a head injury in mid to late November, Boeser is now up to 14 goals on the season and is on pace for 32 goals on the season.

Road goals have become an issue, with the Canucks managing to score just once in each of their last two losses (in Calgary and before that in Las Vegas). In their last four road games, the team has scored a total of six goals. After opening the season 8-1 on the road, the Canucks are now 10-4-2 as the visitors.
<h1>The opponent</h1>
It’s funny what a week can do. The Kraken limped into Vancouver on Saturday on a five-game losing streak and with just six goals over that span. They scored five against the Canucks and then scored five more in a 5-2 home win over Utah on Monday night. So they are 2-0 since the holiday break and have won back-to-back games for the first time since December 3rd and 5th in Carolina and at the New York Islanders.

Jaden Schwartz is holding the hot hand right now. He scored twice to spur the comeback against the Canucks on Saturday and scored again against Utah. He now has four goals in his last four games.

Jared McCann scored his team-leading 13th of the season against Utah. McCann also leads the Kraken with 28 points.

Matty Beniers has scored in back-to-back games, while newly acquired Kappo Kakko is settling into Seattle with a goal and two assists in his first five games with the Kraken.

The Canucks saw firsthand on Saturday how potent Seattle’s defence can be when Vince Dunn scored twice, including the overtime winner. The Kraken have 23 goals from their defencemen led by Brandon Montour with eight and Dunn with seven. Only Columbus (25) and Edmonton (24) have generated more goals from their bluelines.

Philipp Grubauer is expected to make his third straight start in goal tonight. He’s won both games since Christmas, including the one in Vancouver last weekend.

The Canucks won the first six match-ups in the history of this Pacific Northwest rivalry. However, the Kraken have won five of the last six meetings between these teams. After tonight, the two teams will faceoff two more times this season – in Seattle again on March 1st and in Vancouver on April 2nd.

Tonight’s referees: Peter MacDougall &amp; Dan O’Rourke

Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse &amp; Ray Ferraro

Make sure to join the Rink Wide Vancouver postgame live stream immediately following tonight’s game. Rink Wide will provide a full breakdown and comprehensive coverage of the Canucks game. When the final buzzer sounds, be sure to log onto Rink Wide and join the YouTube live chat to discuss the game with other Canucks fans. Subscribe to the Rink Wide YouTube channel and never miss an episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kiJ5lit52E

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